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Moira Harris, 82, speaks softly as she looks out through the window of the picture-postcard countryside cottage outside Macclesfield she shares with her second husband, 85-year-old retired GP, Andy.

“He is my son and he is going to be 54 next birthday, but I am still worrying. Who will know what drugs he needs to take if I’m not here? He doesn’t know. Who will check daily that he is alright and taking his meds? Who will be monitoring his mental state? I’ve seen others in his situation who have no family member to care for them. They fall by the wayside.”

David, Harris’s middle child by her first husband, was diagnosed with schizophrenia 30 years ago. Like...